Posts for Ticker ‘ESRX’

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ABC, ASML, CAH, CVS, ESRX, INTC, MRVL, MHS, SOLF, TXN)

These are this Thursday’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) Started as Buy at UBS.
ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) Started as Buy at UBS.
CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) Started as Buy at UBS.
Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) Started as Buy at UBS.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
MedcoHealth Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS) Started as Buy at UBS.
Solarfun (NASDAQ: SOLF) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.

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JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:12 am in Analyst Calls, Healthcare, Pre-Market Activity, Technology Companies, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , ,

Fidelity’s Top Portfolio Changes (BAC, WFC, GS, MS, JPM, AAPL, MSFT, CSCO, ORCL, XOM, CVX, PFE, ESRX, WYE, GE, SBUX)

money-stack-imageFidelity Management & Research Company, or FMR, was among the giants which released its quarterly holdings over the most recent days.  While it is always interesting to see which holdings are the top holdings, most traders look at the big portfolio changes to try to gain insight into the minds of fund managers. We looked through the top holdings valued at $1 billion or more solely for the Fidelity Management & Research Company unit and we looked for positions where the position changed by more than 10% up or down by measure of share count rather than by the dollar amount.

There were some serious additions in Q2 in the financial sector to its portfolios.  The tech sector saw some mixed changes, while the drug and consumer changes looked lower.  There was a surprise cut in a key conglomerate and a huge add to one of the Battlestar Galactica coffee stocks.

Of the larger changes to its top holdings in financial stocks, FMR’s major large changes were all additional stakes being taken.  WELLS FARGO & CO (NYSE: WFC) was listed as $6.05 billion via 249.45 million shares, a gain of roughly 36 million shares. J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO INC. (NYSE: JPM) was worth $5.44 billion from a stake of almost 159.6 million shares, a gain of over 7.1 million shares. BANK OF AMERICA CORP. (NYSE: BAC) was listed as $4.17 billion via a stake of 315.9 million shares, but that is effectively a doubling in size of shares from its Q1 reporting.  GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. (NYSE: GS) was listed as a $3.44 billion stake via 23.35 million shares, a gain of roughly 7 million shares of stock. MORGAN STANLEY (NYSE: MS) was a stake worth some $2.5 billion via some 87.8 million shares, also more than double its previous shares listed.

APPLE INC. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of its top few holdings at $5.96 billion, and this was a gain of more than 10% to 4,59 million shares. MICROSOFT CORP. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was a huge gain by almost one-third of its stake to some 163 million shares of stock worth a reported $3.87 billion. ORACLE CORP. (NASDAQ: ORCL) was listed as being worth some $2.79 billion via 130.3 million shares, a gain of about 15.3 million shares.  IBM (IBM) was worth $1.00 billion via 9.62 million shares, but this is after a drop of roughly 4.3 million shares.
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Posted on: August 17, 2009 – 4:58 pm in Banking, Drug companies, Financial Stocks, Insider Activity, Mutual Funds, Oil & Gas, Technology Companies, Telecom, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (ARUN, CTV, DPS, ESRX, GENZ, ISRG, LRCX, MXIM, NUAN)

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen this Tuesday morning from Wall Street:

Aruba Networks (ARUN) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
CommScope (CTV) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Express Scripts (ESRX) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Genzyme (GENZ) Started as Buy at Collins Stewart.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
Lam Research (LRCX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Maxim (MXIM) Raised to Buy at Canaccord.
Nuance Communications (NUAN) Started as Buy at Canaccord.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: April 14, 2009 – 7:30 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 4/13/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaper10According to Reuters, GM (GM) has been told by Treasury to begin work on a bankruptcy.

Reuters reports that China’s growth has started to move inland from the coast.

Reuters reports that Credit Suisse (CS) is starting to close down the offshore accounts of US customers.

Reuters writes that the The Ethisphere Institute named the world 99 most ethical companies. Read More »

Posted on: April 13, 2009 – 3:00 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

52-Week Low Club (ADG, BTI, ESRX, MAC, INDM)

burning-money-pic37The rally has been large enough that even with a sell-off of this magnitude we saw very few stocks on 52-week lows.  Here are the ones hitting new 52-week lows today:

Allied Defense Group Inc. (ADG) hit a low on an intra-day basis, but it was a strange trade that came right back; could even be a trade break.  Low print was $3.82; close at $4.07; prior range was $3.95 to $8.35.

British American Tobacco plc (NYSE: BTI) fell 3.5% to $43.77; prior 52-week range was $44.96 to $80.65.  Do the Brits not smoke more in a recession? Jolly!

Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) down 4.5% at $44.09, low was $44.40 and high was $77.97.  When PBM’s do poorly…

Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) fell almost 8% to $5.81 but was as low as $5.64; prior trading range was $5.80 to $76.50.  Ouch, 90% off for the REIT.

United America Indemnity, Ltd (NASDAQ: INDM) down 8% at $3.82; prior range $3.92 to $20.22.

JON C. OGG
March 27, 2009

Posted on: March 27, 2009 – 3:06 pm in HI/LOW, , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (AKAM, BSX, CLX, CVA, ESRX, MCRS, PRXL, PFE, QSII, SGMS)

Money_stack_picThese are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing this Monday morning:

  • Akamai (AKAM) Raised to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
  • Boston Scientific (BSX) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
  • Clorox (CLX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Covanta (CVA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Express Scripts (ESRX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Micros Systems (MCRS) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • PAREXEL (PRXL) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
  • Pfizer (PFE) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Quality Systems (QSII) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
  • Scientific Games (SGMS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
February 2, 2009

Posted on: February 2, 2009 – 7:48 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Express Scripts’ PR Nightmare (ESRX)

Express_scripts_logo_2Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ:ESRX) is about to have one massive PR nightmare in its hands.  The pharmacy benefit management manager announced that it has received a letter from an unknown person or persons trying to extort money from the company.  The letter threatened to expose millions of Express Scripts patient records.

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Posted on: November 6, 2008 – 2:42 pm in Law, Medical, Shareholder Issues,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BWA, CSTR, ESRX, JNPR, M, MAS, NSR, SKS, SYMC, UNH)

These are ten of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades we are seeing from this Friday morning with more than two hours to the open:

  • Borg Warner (BWA) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Coinstar (CSTR) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Express Scripts (ESRX) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
  • Juniper Networks (JNPR) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Macy’s (M) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Masco (MAS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  • NeuStar (NSR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
  • Saks Inc. (SKS) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Symantec (SYMC) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
  • UnitedHealth (UNH) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
October 17, 2008

Posted on: October 17, 2008 – 6:49 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Pharmacy Benefit Managers Dominate Medical Earnings Tuesday (MHS, ESRX)

Pharmacy benefits managers Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) and MedcoHealth Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MHS) are both set to report earnings on Tuesday.

We’ll get to see earnings out of MedcoHealth Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MHS) early Tuesday morning.  The estimates for the pharmacy benefit manager from First Call are $0.53 EPS on $12.25 billion in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.56 EPS on $12.24 billion in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are $2.30 EPS on $49.40 billion in revenues.  Options traders appear to be braced for a move of $1.40 to $1.70 in either direction.  Analysts have an average price target north of $59.00, and MedCo’s 52-week trading range is $35.12 to $54.63. This closed at $51.31 Monday, so shares are still holding rather well as this is a defensive stock.

Tuesday after the close we’ll get to see earnings out of Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), although its management conference call appears to be scheduled for the following morning. The estimates for the pharmacy benefit manager from First Call are $0.67 EPS on $4.78 billion in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.72 EPS on $4.85 billion in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Dec-2008 are $2.98 EPS on $19.44 billion in revenues.  Options traders appear to be braced for a move of close to $3.00 in either direction.  Analysts have an average price target north of $78.00, and Express Scripts’ 52-week trading range is $46.17 to $79.10.  This closed at $73.56 Monday, so shares are still holding rather well as this is also a defensive stock.

Both pharmacy benefit managers took a hit after the first part of the 2008, but shares have recovered and are both within striking distance of their 52-week highs.  As far as defensive stocks for defensive investors, these are supposed to do well regardless of who is in charge of Congress and regardless of who is President.

Jon C. Ogg
April 28, 2008

Posted on: April 28, 2008 – 3:34 pm in Earnings, Medical, ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ACS, DOX, BBBY, ESRX, HD, LOW, NWA, RFMD, SHLD, UA, ADP, BE, CSC, PAYX, SAPE, HEW)

These are not the only key analyst calls that may impact stocks this Monday, but these are the ones that 24/7 Wall St. is focusing on:

  • Affiliated Computer (ACS) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  • Amdocs (DOX) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  • Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Express Scripts (ESRX) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  • Home Depot (HD) & Lowe’s (LOW) both raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Northwest Airlines (NWA) raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • RF Micro Device (RFMD)raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Sears Holdings (SHLD) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Under Armour (UA) raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

UBS Downgrades IT and Outsourcing/Business Process sector:

  • Automatic Data (ADP), BearingPoint (BE), Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), Paychex (PAYX), and Sapient (SAPE) were all downgraded from BUY to NEUTRAL;
  • Hewitt Associates (HEW) downgraded from Neutral to Sell.

Jon C. Ogg
January 14, 2008

Posted on: January 14, 2008 – 7:36 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BSC, CAL, DELL, ESRX, HON, ILMN, NUAN, SPW, STM, AU, DROOY, GFI, GBN, HMY)

These are not the only big analysts calls this Friday morning, but these are the ones that 24/7WallSt.com is focusing on this morning:

  • Bear Stearns (BSC) raised to Buy at Merrill Lynch.
  • Continental (CAL) raised to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
  • Dell (DELL) raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Express Scripts (ESRX) started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Honeywell (HON) raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Illumina (ILMN) raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman; raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Nuance Communications (NUAN) raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
  • SPX Corp. (SPW) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • STMicroelectronics (STM) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform.

DEUTSCHE BANK Downgrades Gold Stocks:

  • Anglogold (AU) downgraded to Sell from Hold;
  • DRDGOLD (DROOY) downgraded to Hold from Buy;
  • Gold Fields (GFI) downgraded to Sell from Hold;
  • Great Basin Gold (GBN) downgraded to Hold from Buy;
  • Hamrmony Gold (HMY) downgraded to Sell from Hold.

Jon C. Ogg
January 11, 2008

Posted on: January 11, 2008 – 7:31 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AUO, ESRX, FDO, GRMN, PBR, PZE, PPDI, SFLY, TSO, ZUMZ, CAL, DAL, NWA, UAUA, LCC, AMR)

These are not the only key analyst calls coming out of Wall Street analysts today, but these are the key calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on in pre-market hours:

  • AU Optronics (AUO) raised to Outperform at Lehman.
  • Express Scripts (ESRX) downgraded to Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Family Dollar (FDO) downgraded to Underperform at Bear Stearns.
  • Garmin (GRMN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Petrobras Brasiliero (PBR) downgrades to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
  • Petrobras Energia (PZE) downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
  • PPD Inc. (PPDI) raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Shutterffly (SFLY) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
  • Tesoro (TSO) downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
  • Zumiez (ZUMZ) raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
  • UBS RAISED AIRLINES: Continental (CAL), Delta (DAL), Northwest Airlines (NWA), UAL (UAUA), and United (LCC) all raised to Buy from neutral; AMR (AMR) raised to Neutral from Sell.  Incidentally, Bear Stearns also raised Delta (DAL) to an Outperform rating.

Jon C. Ogg
January 9, 2008

Posted on: January 9, 2008 – 8:03 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pre-Market Stock News (June 25, 2007)

(AAPL) Apple’s iTunes passed Amazon.com in music sales to become #3 music seller behind Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
(AFOP) Alliance Fiber Optics raised Q2 sales guidance.
(AGN) Allergan trades ex-split to reflect a 2-1 stock split today.
(BNT) Bentley Pharmaceuticals reported positive results with Nasulin intranasal insulin spray at the American Diabetes Association sessions.
(BX) Blackstone was the cover story for Barron’s, noted somewhat cautiously.
(DCGN) deCODE genetics announces positive clinical results for DG041 lead product candidate.
(EBAY) eBay has reportedly sent back some of the ad business to Google that it recently pulled.
(ESRX) Express Scripts trades ex-split today to reflect a 2-1 stock split.
(FRH) Freedom Acquisition Holdings is becoming a public hedge fund and alternative investment vehicle as GLG Partners a $3.4 Billion total compensation deal.
(GILD) Gilead trades ex-split today to reflect a 2-1 stock split.
(GIVN) Given Imaging could revolutionize colonoscopies according to Cramer.
(GPCB) GPC Biotech announced a partnership for Satraplatin in Japan with Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. And will receive close to a $10 million payment plus royalties.
(HNSN) Hansen Medical has initiated legal action against Luna Innovations over trade secrets, unfair competition and breach of contract on fiber optic technologies for use in robotic catheter products and related intellectual property.
(KVHI) KVH Industries received a $1.1 million fiber optic gyro order for military simulators.
(LRY) Liberty Property established a $50 million buyback program as part of a total $100 million buyback plan.
(MRK) Merck announced that JANUVIA in combination with metaformin provided significant glycemic improvement and was well tolerated and showed significantly improved blood sugar control in patients with type II diabetes.
(NBL) Noble Energy announced new oil and gas discovery in Equatorial Guinea.
(NGI) NEON Communications being acquired for $5.25 per share by RCN Communications.
(NRGN) Neurogen announces positive results for proprietary insomnia drug in two chronic insomnia clinical trials.
(NTDOY) Nintendo passed up Sony in market value in Japan today.
(OMTR) Omniture could be acquired in online ad measuring according to Cramer; stock up 8%.
(OREX) Orexigen Therapeutics announced positive obesity data this weekend American Diabetes Association 67th Scientific Sessions in Chicago.
(USEY) US Energy is seeking third party financial advisors to assist board in its evaluation of potential refinancing or restructuring transactions
(YHOO) Yahoo!’s head executive of US ad sales left for Martha Stewart Ominimedia; Yahoo! is merging ad departments.

Jon C. Ogg
June 25, 2007

JOn Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: June 25, 2007 – 7:18 am in Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s & Upcoming Stock Splits (June 19, 2007)

Stock Tickers: CPKI, MRO, STR, PVA, AGN, ESRX, GILD, OMC, YUM

TODAY (June 19, 2007)
(CPKI) California Pizza Kitchen trades ex-split today to reflect a 3-2 stock Split.
(MRO) Marathon Oil trades ex-split today to reflect a 2-1 stock split.
(STR) Questar trades ex-split to reflect a 2-1 stock split.

THIS WEEK
(PVA) Penn Viginia will trade ex-split on June 20 to reflect a 2-1 stock split.

NEXT WEEK
Allergan (AGN), Express Scripts (ESRX) and Gilead (GILD) all trade ex-split to reflect their pending 2-1 stock splits on June 25. 
Omnicom (OMC) will trade ex-split on on June 26 to reflect its pending 2-1 stock split. 
YUM! Brands (YUM) trades ex-split on June 27 to reflect its pending 2-1 stock split.

Jon C. Ogg
June 19, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: June 19, 2007 – 6:36 am in Stock Splits, , , , , , , , ,